


Happy

by KittensAndTea



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alice deviates, All of my character studies are sad, Character Study, Gen, I'm bad at tags and summaries, Pre-Canon, This Is Sad, kara is hurt, no happy ending, probably, sorry - Freeform, todd is a dick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 23:33:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15851685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittensAndTea/pseuds/KittensAndTea
Summary: 'Be a good child. Make Todd happy.'





	Happy

Alice was a good child. That's what she was supposed to be. She was supposed to make Todd happy, but for some reason she could never complete this objective.

"You don't look like her!" He'd yelled once, tears in the corners of his eyes. Alice didn't really know who she was supposed to be. Todd hadn't made that clear. She thought, perhaps, it was the child in the photos Todd kept around. A human girl, who didn't look like Alice. Alice was supposed to make Todd happy, but she couldn't because she wasn't _his_ Alice. And she couldn't change that.

Regardless, she obeyed her programming, took his anger as it came. And it came often. The house was always a mess, so Alice tried to clean for him. She thought that maybe that would make him happy. She wanted him to be happy.

She failed in her attempts to help, only annoying Todd more. He did decide that something should be done about their mess of a home, though. He bought another android. She was an AX400. She didn't have a name. Alice stayed away at first, because many children were shy around strangers, and the new android was a stranger.

She sat outside one day, about two weeks after the AX400 appeared in her life, watching the other android hanging out washing. When she was finished, she turned and met Alice's eyes. They both stared at each other, before the AX400 made her way over. Alice contemplated running away, but the android was already in front of her before she's made a decision. It was appropriate for a child to warm up to new people after a certain amount of time.

The AX400 held out her hand, and Alice took it, after a moment of staring at the proffered hand.

"Hello, Alice." Her voice was soft, gentle, "You're a YK model, correct?" Alice looked up. She nodded, quickly, and ducked her head again.

"I'm an AX400, but I'm sure you knew that." She smiled, motioning to her tag as if Todd hadn't yelled her model number every twenty minutes for the past two weeks. The other android was likely using the same procedures she would use when talking to a human child.

The AX400 knelt down in front of her; on both knees, as if the ground wasn't muddied. Cyberlife issue clothing didn't get muddy.

"Can I tell you a secret, Alice?" She asked, and Alice nodded hesitantly. The AX400 leaned in close, and murmured, "My name is Kara."

Alice blinked, changing the AX400's name to Kara as she processed the information. "Can I call you that?" She asked, trying to match Kara's quiet pitch. Kara nodded, with a smile that seemed to light up the grey, stormy world around them.

"Just don't tell Todd that I already had a name; I'm not supposed to have a name." She told Alice sternly. Alice nodded.

She and Kara became close. Although she did not need it; only cried because her programming dictated she should, Kara would always comfort her after Todd hurt her. Kara seemed to care about her, although there was no reason to. They were both androids, neither needed to give or receive real care.

And yet, Kara did. It was strange to Alice. And appealing, in a way that had her programming scampering to reroute her attention elsewhere.

Still, even with Kara around, Todd wasn't happy. Kara fulfilled her job; do the work around the house, make them food - as if she needed to eat; as if they didn't all know that she couldn't - and watch the kid.

So why was Alice incapable of completing her own role? She asked Kara one day, and the other android put some thought into her question. Finally she replied, "Humans are complicated. He wanted something to fill a hole in his life, but now that he has that thing, it doesn't quite fit into the hole. Your role in his life is emotional, and that is a lot harder to satisfy than completing menial housework." Something, a frown maybe, crossed her face; so quickly that Alice almost didn't notice.

Kara read to her every night in the later months of their cohabitation. Todd never commented, so Kara kept doing it. Alice wanted to tell her that it wasn't necessary, but Kara's voice was sweet, and it was nice to fall into stasis listening to her soothing words.

It was late summer, about three months into Kara's existence in Todd's home, that Alice brought up Kara's name.

"Isn't AX400 annoying to say, daddy?" The word felt wrong every time it fell from her lips, even as Todd turned to her with raised eyebrows. There was a blank look on his face.

"What else would I call it?" He asked, and Alice couldn't tell if he was genuinely confused, or if her question had made him angry.

"You could name her...?" She ventured, voice hesitant.

Todd looked at Kara, who was washing the dishes in the kitchen, and then back at Alice, "What would I name her? Jane? Got any bright ideas?"

Alice paused. Child androids were designed to be creative; better at emulating a human child that way. "How about... Kara?" She asked. Todd blinked at her, and then shrugged carelessly.

"Hey android!" He yelled, catching Kara's attention, "Register name: Kara."

Kara smiled at the two of them, "My name is Kara." She said, before returning to the dishes.

Alice pulled her legs up on the sofa, regretting sitting next to Todd already. She couldn't get up yet though, it would be impolite. She wanted to help Kara.

Having Kara around seemed to make Todd better, for a while. He didn't hit her as often; mostly just shouted.

And then he pointed a knife at her. It was one of the sharp ones, that only Kara had touched in all the time that Alice had lived there. Todd was so drunk, and he yelled so loud. She sat in her chair, even as Todd advanced on her. Kara was upstairs, cleaning her room.

Alice wanted-.

Alice _wanted_... Kara.

The knife was inches from her face, and time slowed down. There was a red barrier between her body and Todd's. At first she thought it was protection; but then she read the pixelated prompt box that the wall held.

_Be a good child. Make Todd happy._

If she was a good child, she'd stay there. She'd allow Todd to hurt her. It would be okay if it made him happy. But it wouldn't, he'd be angry again the next day, and the next. But she should still do what he wanted.

She pushed against the wall, tentative. The small force behind her push still managed to cave it in slightly. She pushed harder. And then again, and again.

All of a sudden she was falling from her chair, away from the knife Todd held. He looked outraged as she cowered away from him.

"What the fuck's up with you?" He yelled. Alice covered her face and squeezed her eyes shut. The tears that stained her cheeks were real. She waited for a blow that never came. Instead, she heard a gasp; familiar. She looked up to see Kara in front of her. Kara's arm was held up, blocking the path of the knife now imbedded in her wrist.

"Go, Alice." She said, with calm urgency. Alice ran upstairs, ashamed, wishing she could protect Kara in return. But she was suddenly terrified, no idea what that meant. There was so much rushing through her once empty mind, a cascade of what she could only categorise as _feelings_.

She could hear Todd shouting. She collapsed at the top of the stairs.

Looking down, she was just in time to see Kara's arm come off. Blue stained the carpet below the two. Both hands were over her mouth, muffling the violent sob that wracked her being as she watched the scene play out.

She ran to her room, closing and locking the door behind her. She grabbed her duvet and crawled under her bed with it. If he came looking, maybe he wouldn't see her. It was a thought conjured by a muddled brain, but it was the best she had.

Curled up under the duvet, in her dark bedroom, she sobbed. She didn't understand all of the new _emotions_ clogging her brain. And Kara wouldn't be there to lead her through it.

It was Alice's fault; she couldn't make Todd happy. She couldn't even make herself happy. She wasn't a good child, and now Kara was paying for it, " _Mommy_ , please come back."

**Author's Note:**

> If this made you sad, then I have achieved my goal... But also sorry, I suppose...
> 
> If there were any mistakes in this - grammar wise or continuity wise - please let me know! I might fix it, but it'll definitely help me improve in the future! Haha...
> 
> If you wanna talk, I'd love to! You can talk to me on Tumblr if you want; [ (insert a wink and a nudge)](https://mochatears.tumblr.com)! But all the other interactions on the fic are awesome too! Anyways, enough of my rambling!


End file.
